Suspension strip down and rebuild - progress
Discussion
Not posted on the Chimaera forum for a while as the motor has been off the road for a couple of years, but for no other reason than your amusement, I thought I'd let you all know how I'm getting on with getting it back on the road. I shall take some photos soon and get them uploaded.
A little history first, the car failed an MOT in august 2005 not on hugely major points, but enough that I didn't have the money at the time to get it fixed, or the time to fix it myself. It failed on knackered front ball joints, boarder-line tyres, faulty windscreen washer, and a couple of other little bits. In the time it's been sitting unused, the heater blower has also seized which in turn blows the fuse for the entire dashboard if the heater switch is turned on!
So far I've only got as far as stripping down the suspension down totally on the front and partially on the rear. Even though I only needed to replace the ball joints, once I got close and had a decent look it became clear that the wishbones were crying out for a little TLC. The lower wishbones had a good layer of surface rust on them, the upper ones were throw away jobs, parts of the metal had seperated into layers in the way that metal does when it's very rusty! So, I ordered two new upper wishbones, and took the lower ones to be shot-blasted and powdercoated, found a place in Slough that did the pair for £50 in a week and they came back looking brand new.
From tvrcarparts.com, I'd ordered a set of poly bushes all round, poly anti-roll bushes, rose jointed drop links, upper ball joints, the lower ones I bought from eurocarparts.com, they are off a Saab 900, saved me about £40!! So the bushes get fitted into the new front wishbones, currently they are sitting in the garage waiting to be fitted to the motor.
The front springs and dampers have also come off, the previous owner (his name is Manek, previous editor of PH, not sure if anyone remembers him?) fitted Leda suspension, it had been slightly problematic in that the rear drive-side damper used to bottom out alot, used to sound like the bottom of the car was being ripped off! I phoned a chap from Leda who said they could recondition the dampers for £75 a corner, bargain! So once I have the rear dampers off, that's where they are headed!!
I have begun to strip down the rear suspenion, but haven't got to far yet, the hub carrier (if that's what it's called!) is free, other than been held on by the driveshaft. Next the driveshaft is coming off, then it'll be easier to get to the nuts/bolts to dismantle the rest of the rear. Got to say, there are some bloody awkward places to get to, especially the lower/front wishbone nut!! Thankfully, the rear wishbones don't really look too bad at all, I think a shot-blasting and powder-coating will get them looking spotless.
Once all the suspension is off, I know I'll be tempted to recondition the whole chassis, but I think that's maybe a job for next winter as I'm hoping to have the motor on the road in time for LeMans! I think for now I'm just going to wire brush down, hammerite & waxoyl as much as I can.
So there's the story so far, I'll take some piccies when I get a chance. They're not nearly as scary to work on as everyone makes out, although I'm sure I'll be eating my works in a month or so!
More to follow, watch this space....
Dan
Edited for spelling and my general crapness!!
A little history first, the car failed an MOT in august 2005 not on hugely major points, but enough that I didn't have the money at the time to get it fixed, or the time to fix it myself. It failed on knackered front ball joints, boarder-line tyres, faulty windscreen washer, and a couple of other little bits. In the time it's been sitting unused, the heater blower has also seized which in turn blows the fuse for the entire dashboard if the heater switch is turned on!
So far I've only got as far as stripping down the suspension down totally on the front and partially on the rear. Even though I only needed to replace the ball joints, once I got close and had a decent look it became clear that the wishbones were crying out for a little TLC. The lower wishbones had a good layer of surface rust on them, the upper ones were throw away jobs, parts of the metal had seperated into layers in the way that metal does when it's very rusty! So, I ordered two new upper wishbones, and took the lower ones to be shot-blasted and powdercoated, found a place in Slough that did the pair for £50 in a week and they came back looking brand new.
From tvrcarparts.com, I'd ordered a set of poly bushes all round, poly anti-roll bushes, rose jointed drop links, upper ball joints, the lower ones I bought from eurocarparts.com, they are off a Saab 900, saved me about £40!! So the bushes get fitted into the new front wishbones, currently they are sitting in the garage waiting to be fitted to the motor.
The front springs and dampers have also come off, the previous owner (his name is Manek, previous editor of PH, not sure if anyone remembers him?) fitted Leda suspension, it had been slightly problematic in that the rear drive-side damper used to bottom out alot, used to sound like the bottom of the car was being ripped off! I phoned a chap from Leda who said they could recondition the dampers for £75 a corner, bargain! So once I have the rear dampers off, that's where they are headed!!
I have begun to strip down the rear suspenion, but haven't got to far yet, the hub carrier (if that's what it's called!) is free, other than been held on by the driveshaft. Next the driveshaft is coming off, then it'll be easier to get to the nuts/bolts to dismantle the rest of the rear. Got to say, there are some bloody awkward places to get to, especially the lower/front wishbone nut!! Thankfully, the rear wishbones don't really look too bad at all, I think a shot-blasting and powder-coating will get them looking spotless.
Once all the suspension is off, I know I'll be tempted to recondition the whole chassis, but I think that's maybe a job for next winter as I'm hoping to have the motor on the road in time for LeMans! I think for now I'm just going to wire brush down, hammerite & waxoyl as much as I can.
So there's the story so far, I'll take some piccies when I get a chance. They're not nearly as scary to work on as everyone makes out, although I'm sure I'll be eating my works in a month or so!
More to follow, watch this space....
Dan
Edited for spelling and my general crapness!!
Edited by _Dan_ on Tuesday 8th April 08:13
_Dan_ said:
In the time it's been sitting unused, the heater blower has also seized which in turn blows the fuse for the entire dashboard if the heater switch is turned on!
There is a shortcut to freeing it up on early cars (which IIRC Maneks was)._Dan_ said:
...the lower ones I bought from eurocarparts.com, they are off a Saab 900, saved me about £40!!...
I think you got that the wrong way round, Saab upper, Lada'ish lower 
Just in case someone buys the wrong ones 
Dave
spend said:
_Dan_ said:
In the time it's been sitting unused, the heater blower has also seized which in turn blows the fuse for the entire dashboard if the heater switch is turned on!
There is a shortcut to freeing it up on early cars (which IIRC Maneks was).It's a 95/96 Chimaera 400. I was told that the heater is riveted in on my model, although I haven't had a chance to get stuck in yet. Hopefully won't be too much hassle!
_Dan_ said:
...the lower ones I bought from eurocarparts.com, they are off a Saab 900, saved me about £40!!...
I think you got that the wrong way round, Saab upper, Lada'ish lower Just in case someone buys the wrong ones Dave
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